Fast Takes with Fast Break: North Championship - Minneapolis vs Rochester
Rochester comes into this series with several key pieces missing, most notably coach Sollie Gominiak and former North Division MVP Basem Ashkar. Whiteout has spent the past two seasons running deep lines to get playtime for their entire roster (even while struggling in the East Division), and this series will show if their investment in player development has paid off. Much of the weight will fall on veterans Alyssa Giarrosso and Cody Keefer to ball-handle and control the pace of the offense. Behind them, Rochester only has two full lines of quaffle players. Look for the line of Giarrosso, Jack Moseley, Kit Powpour, and Ben Stonish (inserted into the starting line in place of Ashkar) to give Whiteout their best chance to keep things competitive. Defensively, Whiteout will likely come out in a more conservative zone than they used against Toronto or Cleveland. While Whiteout is missing several “plus” defenders, the players they have left have shown a willingness to be physical that will be needed against the Monarchs’ arsenal of drivers.
The Minneapolis Monarchs are showing up this weekend to win it all. They are one of two teams with the largest tournament franchise roster. With only three games on the weekend and a plethora of talent to choose from, the Minneapolis Monarchs can turn this championship match into a war of attrition and tire Rochester out. They’ll look to use their transitional offense and physical point defense to keep the pace going exactly how they want it. With a wide wingspan ready to block passes and shots on defense, and a consistent ability to move the ball around on offense, the Monarchs play a chaser game that will take advantage of Rochester missing its off-ball tacklers. We’ve seen Max Meier dance around flat-footed chasers running a route all the way around hoops to score and a few well-placed shots to drive up the score and he’ll look to continue that this weekend. Behind him are many other capable quaffle players like Terry Carlson, Kameron Dropps, Alexander “O.B.” Obanor, and Emma Persons. All of these players know what to do when the ball gets to them, and even with the game seemingly close against Indianapolis, they had no issues settling into their own pace as the games neared their close, giving them a comfortable lead over their rivals.
Rochester’s beaters have been a mixed bag thus far. Patrick Callanan and Emily Hickmott (seeking to become the first player to win a title in each division) have been consistently excellent, but beyond them, Whiteout’s beater play has been up and down. Two beaters to watch out for are Brady Grow, returning from an injury suffered against Toronto, and Ashley Dolan, who will look to improve upon her performance against Cleveland. Whiteout’s young chasers could use a helping hand via easy fastbreak goals. Conversely, things could get ugly fast if Rochester’s chasers are constantly under pressure and Minneapolis is able to dominate the fastbreak differential. Minneapolis beat Indianapolis despite not having control for much of the series, so Whiteout’s beaters will need to at least keep pace if they want to keep the series close. This is especially prevalent during snitch on pitch. Seeking stands out as a definite advantage for Whiteout in this series. Through six games each, Whiteout has caught two more snitches than the Monarchs (including two on-series snitch Derek Parker). If Rochester struggles to keep up in quaffle points, clutch snitch catches via Keefer, Powpour, Stonish, or a step-in by Dolan or Hickmott could be the equalizer.
While the quaffle game provides an easy understanding of the Monarchs' strength, their beating game seems to be a more complex strategy. The Monarchs’ beaters do well maintaining the pace of the game, with or without bludger control, an ability that many teams lack. They choose when to engage in battles with opponents and how to cut off another team’s beaters from being able to dominate the defense. Cutting off parts of the field allows more flexibility in quaffle movement and sets up driving lanes for their teammates. The skill to make sure you’re scoring more than your opponents, with or without bludger control, sounds like an obvious strategy, but it’s the Head Coaching ability of Cody Narveson making sure that all the pieces connect. Heading the beater core, Narveson has trusted beating lines in Gracie Johnson, Nicole Nelson, Nathan Podolsky, and Joshua Zemke, and the return of Ben Schlueter to the area provides consistent looks at new beater pairs to keep their opponents from getting comfortable in matchups. From the decisive matchups of Narveson to the supreme catching ability of Gracie, choosing which beater strengths to play on and when could keep Rochester guessing when to step up and when to fall back. In the seeking game, I expect Monarchs to start with veteran seeker Zeke Majeske but remain willing to run multiple fresh seekers after a tiring snitch if the game lasts for an extended period. Snitch on pitch provides a boost to their quaffle offense with opportunities for more fast breaks when the opponent’s beaters are split, so they’ll comfortably look to reach the set score on both avenues.
Overall, Whiteout’s physicality and (remaining) experience will keep things close, but a lack of several key players may be too much to overcome. In the beating game, the experience of Hickmott, Dolan, and Callahan may help cut off Monarch's ball movement to keep their goals low for as much as they can. On the Monarchs’ side, they’ll look to keep consistently playing their game and maintaining a comfortable lead, looking to their beaters to create just enough chaos to continuously slip through and score. The Monarchs haven’t found a key point in the game to dominate but are fine simply using their transitional offenses to keep their points on the board.
Prediction: Minneapolis 3-0
